Comrade
by rain-of-the-soul
Summary: There is a certain kind of bond that forms between people who have lived through a near death experience; the strength of it is determined when the normal and the everyday heartbreak of life is thrown off kilter by their own realization of mortality. S/K
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Uhura's smiling face across from him controlled the lively chatter of the evening meal as she effortlessly managed to integrate the strange group of people sitting around her, leading the conversation towards only the gods new what. He smiled at the right times, made the right noises and put on the perfect mask of an interested man with nothing really to say.

Kirk watched her lips move, but didn't bother to comprehend any of the words as she lit up the room. Across from him, Bones give him a smirk of sarcastic humor at the comment she had made. Chekov in turn made a jab at Sulu and the table burst into laughter. Letting his head shake in mock humor, Kirk moved his gaze again. McCoy looked up from his vegetable mix and they locked eyes from across the table. The doctor's smile dropped a fraction at the corners as he stared at Spock pointedly for a moment, then back at Kirk. Raising his eyebrows and looking exasperated, he shook his head and turned to ignore the pair's newest quarrel. Scotty soon after grasped his attention with another offhand comment. Kirk sent a glare out of the corner of his eye to the Vulcan who was easily becoming the bane of his existence.

Their table was easily the center of attention in the busy mess hall around them, yet the rest of the officers were oblivious to the attention. Their presence dominated without trying, even if he was strangely detached from the conversation.

Only Spock was more out of tune to the voices of their strange pack. Eating with a functional grace, his first officer looked as though he was calculating the table with the same deep concentration that he reserved for science experiments in the labs. He looked the speaker in the eyes, though he didn't bother to add fake embellishments of emotion to look as though he cared to pay attention. If asked, he would have been able to recall the entire conversation better than those who had played an active part in the discussion.

Kirk let his glare soften as he looked the Vulcan over, trying to decipher what made him so damn irritating. Slipping another bite of food into his mouth that he didn't taste, Kirk concentrated on the plate to stop from looking again. His body language and strong presence next to him made Spock not fully Vulcan, but the utter lack of anything else made him an outcast among humans. Kirk had spent enough time around the Vulcan elders after the destruction of their planet to be able to recognize the commanding nothingness that came naturally from the alien species. Though Spock had the same magnetic pull, he lacked the perfected grace that took in emotions, but didn't emanate them back.

The table erupted in laughter again. Wondering when he was going to snap out of his haze of deep thoughts, he shook his head and stood. He didn't bother to wait for Spock and crossed the room, knowing he would follow. Kirk placed the half-full try on the materializer pad and walked quickly through the mess . He had almost grown accustomed to the looks that followed him wherever he went and with a quick nod to a group of security that had made eye contact, he walked into the brightly lit hallway that would lead to the bridge.

He was, in some ways, used to the presence that had determinedly decided to follow him since they had landed at headquarters almost a full month before, but in more ways than not, the eerie silence the Vulcan conducted himself with completely unnerved him. He was used to the aimless chatter of friends not familiar with an amiable silence. At the very least, the Vulcan could try to make the mission durable and enjoyable instead of being so serious all the time.

The part of him that was governed by what was best for his ship was still undecided about whether he liked the constant figure or not. In most cases though, even if it was irritating, the second opinion Spock gave was not one he was going to complain about, even if it meant he was never alone long enough to even try.

They were ten minutes early to the next shift as Kirk sat down on the chair and looked out at the large expanse of stars. Spock slid past him and faced his own station, keying in his passcodes. The Vulcan had spent the better part of three hours reprograming the station to serve his way of thinking and had become slightly protective over the piece of machinery.

He let out a breath of relief at finally reporting for duty on his ship. Though apprehensive, he knew that Spock would knock him out before he tried to do anything too stupid.

"Captain," the slightly grating voice of his commanding officer said. Kirk's attention and body shifted to see the dark brown eyes before Spock turned to the screen of his station. "The rest of the beta crew will be arriving soon. All levels are operating on normal frequencies. We are ready for your command."

Sitting a little straighter in his chair, he adopted the air of a captain he was still trying to find mastery over and waited for the telltale hiss of the door to signal the rest of his crew was on deck. "Thank you Mr. Spock, I had not realized they were due for their shift," he said in a dry, sardonic tone.

The Vulcan, who was either completely used to his sense of humor or realized he was never going to understand it so didn't bother trying, simply finished turning in his seat.

"Alright Chekov, what are Star Fleet's newest orders?" The grinning navigator slid into his seat in front of them and punched a few numbers into the computer, slowly coming back into the role of an officer. Looking around, he was the only one on the bridge save Spock, who in his own right should have his own ship to command, that had earned their place the old fashion way of just being that good, not getting lucky and being in the right place at the wrong time. Not that Kirk was at all dissatisfied with his chain of command; he was just wondering what the hell had been going on in the minds of the higher ups that had decided it would be a good idea to keep them all together.

"There is a cargo shipment that needs to be picked up in the quadrant near the old Vulcan and sent to a planet low on food, as well as a few planets on route that need to be monitored along the way to make sure there statuses have not been changed. We have a little under a month to complete the mission."

Uhura's voice quipped up at the end of his spiel, "Starfleet has sent over a more detailed description of everything. I'm forwarding it to you. "

"Thank you both." Shifting in his seat, he pressed the familiar controls of the sleek armrest and hailed the engineering deck while pulling up the file. A small beep on his belt signaled he had indeed gotten the message.

"Aye captain, what can I get ya?"

Quickly scanning through the message, he picked up a few details that the rest of them needed to know and tried to keep out as much of the boring overkill as needed. "Starfleet's new orders are to pick up supplies for a planet that was just the victim of harsh weather. "

Skimming a bit further into the message, Kirk scrolled the page down. "Looks like there's going to be enough food to feed the planet of five thousand for a month, so make sure we have the room in the cargo hold."

"Of course, captain."

"Sulu, if we proceed in warp factor two, what's the ETA for us getting to the supply planet?" His pilot turned into his station and keyed started to key in the needed data. To his right, Spock's voice cut through the sound of the computers.

"At warp factor two, we should arrive in approximately four point five days, captain. It would be advisable to keep the engines running on a lower intensity after such major repairs have been made on an already new ship. Though to keep in time with the parameters of the mission and be able to scan the requested planets, we should move at warp factor three."

Kirk looked to the others in the room and saw the debate and weighing out of options. "What do you think Scotty, this is your area. Do you think you we can handle such speed yet?"

"I think we'll be fine captain, as long as we ease into the higher levels. I want a chance to make sure they put everything back together properly before we have to push it to the breaking point," he said with a bit of a chuckle at the end.

"I am sure that if there was a problem, our more-than-capable engineering officer would be able to take care of it." Kirk looked at Spock again and nodded, convinced.

"All right Sulu, warp factor three. Scotty, I want a monitor on everything. I want to know that if we find trouble, my ship is up to taking it before it breaks. Got it?"

"Aye captain."

"Kirk out." The great pull of the ship slowly shifting in to warp sent his blood streaming though his veins and made him feel alive for the first time since they had started shore leave. "Spock. Bring up the levels on your screen and make sure that everything is functioning normally. I trust Scotty, but I just want to make sure."

"I already have them here captain, all levels seem to be responding well to warp speed. Dilithium chambers are normal and steady, the internal cooler controls are all go and the systematics of electronics are reporting smoothly."

Kirk rose up from his seat and moved to look at the levels over Spock's shoulder. Though he only understood the meaning of about half of the diagram and how it related to the ship itself, he still knew what was normal and what was not. "If we should have a problem, where do you think it's going to occur Mr. Spock?"

Shifting to accommodate Kirks presence, as he always seemed to do, Spock moved the diagram to a digital layout of the ship. Bringing up a data padd to the side of the screen, he pulled the image up on its surface. Pointing to the central hull, Spock zoomed the picture in deeper.

"I believe it would happen here captain." He said as he handed over the screen and all but 'shooed' him out of his personal space as he turned his attention back to his station.

Ignoring the dismissing hint and look, he stood from his crouch and then immediately shifted his weight to lean on the back of Spock's chair. Crossing his legs and placing the data padd on his lap, he waited contently.

Raising an eyebrow and looking down at him, an utterly smug look on his face, Kirk waited for an explanation. Like the rest of the diagrams, he only knew so much about the schematics of the ship, and Spock knew that fact. He had spent a good amount of his free time at the academy familiarizing himself with as much of the Enterprise as he could, but he was no Scotty.

Kirk saw a small crease form on Spock's cheek as he tried to keep his teeth unclenched and failed. At least he wasn't the only one that got under the others skin. Spock was just raised to better hide the fact.

As he basked in the afterglow of one of his new favorite hobbies, he failed to see the slight positioning of Spock's feet. Turning the chair ever so lightly, he jarred kirk from his comfortable spot, effectively sending him bottom first to the floor of the bridge.

Reaching out a long arm, the Vulcan caught the data padd from his falling hands just as it was about to crash into the floor.

Their eyes locked as resentment and utter bewilderment clashed with the almost smug Vulcan brown. Had it been anyone else, kirk would have laughed at the sheer audacity of the situation, but seeing the long legs and three times as strong as him alien practically hovering over him cleared away all thoughts of possible laughter. A trickle of fear slid down his spine and instantly shot the adrenalin of an upcoming fight though his blood.

Spock seemed to realize the implications of what he had done just at the security officers at the door snapped out of there stupor and moved across the bridge. One pulled his phaser and pointed the weapon, blue end out, directly at Spock's chest; stopping just outside of the Vulcan's leaping distance.

"Easy, it was just a joke, boys." Raising his hands and trying to push back all the thoughts of how he had come to the same conclusion as his security officers, he tried to smooth over the dispute. Kirk looked hesitantly at Spock's frozen form. Smiling at how shocked the Vulcan looked, data padd still outstretched in his hands and posture still open from the catch, he took a deep breath and settled back into his best mock of story time he could muster. "Well, now that you have all of our attention, why don't you explain what this all means for my ship, Commander."

Kirk waved off the hesitant security off as if they were just another unwanted helmsman with more paperwork. He commanded Spock with his eyes to do something other than look at him like a deer in the headlights and try to look normal.

"Yes sir." Holding the padd uncomfortably in front of him as he tried to regain in his senses, navigate around the screen and still show Kirk what he was doing, Spock found his train of thought.

"This is where we took the most damage. Due to the fact that the ship was so new, the engineering crew that maintenance it did not need to replace a lot of it, so they tried to make do with what they had. Every part of the ship has passed the highest level of inspection, but if a problem were to arise, my hypothesis would be that it would be the electronics malfunctioning."

Kirk looked at the Vulcan, really just looked. His face was as impassive as it always was, his inflection on his words the same, one step below monotone, eyebrows slanted, but not raised, every notable feature the same. As a whole, however, his body showed the hesitancy and self-shock from his actions. Though his theory about Spock not having as sense of humor was blown to pieces by the explosion of his pride, he now knew that at least a tenth of what his commanding officer portrayed was indeed human.

He zoomed to another part of the ship and a large layout of blue wiring diagrams highlighted for him to see. "Normally when the chambers are replaced, so is most of the wiring. This was not the case in this repair due to the newness of the ship. There have been rare cases where the engine has not connected with the hardware properly and as such, caused numerous problems in the electrical systems."

As security slipped their phasers back home and cautiously made their way back to their post, the humiliating fact that his first officer had put him off his ass in front of the entire crew _again_ sunk in and made the attitude that had gotten him into this predicament flair. "And how likely is this occurrence to happen _Mr._ Spock?"

If he was surprised that kirk had even been listening, he made no mention of it. Moving back to the original levels and pointing with a long delicate finger at one of the green bars to the left, he pressed on "This is what causes the concern, but the statistical likelihood that something could happen to us is one in 8,453,645. Even so, I will endeavor to monitor it as we move to higher speeds, Captain."

He should not have been so surprised at the calculation, in fact it was good to know, but did he have to be so smug about it? Of course, from his position on the ground, just about everything Spock said could be taken as some sort of insult. Probably the rat bastard's initial intentions.

Standing as gracefully as he could, he turned, stretched as if it was his innate desire to be on the floor and started back to his considerably more comfortable chair. He schooled the adrenalin induced shake that had overcome his limbs as he walked and tried to reassure the rest of the bridge everything was normal and that his first officer was not going to try kill him any time soon. He hoped.

"Scotty is aware of this, right?" he said as he sat.

Spock looked back at him over his shoulder. "He was the one who told me about it, captain. I merely agreed to monitor it for him in case he was too… distracted by other tasks of his job to notice."

Turing back, Kirk looked at his own controls, feeling satisfied with the information. "What's the status of the rest of the ship, Uhura?"

Looking up, he tried to ignore the relief and laughter dancing in her eyes. Her tone was a bit too happy for his liking ."All systems seem to be a go captain. I had a problem with contacting the D deck a few moments ago, but the short was found and everything seems to be running smoothly. I'm about to send out a test message to all of the evacuation pods and make sure all systems are working, but I foresee no complications." The look she gave him was easily translatable. '_Stop worrying so much, we know what we're doing, even if you do end up on the floor again.' _

Keeping back a poisonous glare, he sunk back into his chair and let the rest of the time smooth by till the night crew came on board to relive them. Checking the levels one last time of all the new adjustments that the base had made, he stood, stretched his arms over his head and walked to the door, ignoring the bruise that was sure to have formed along his upper thigh.

Knowing Spock was beside him, Kirk walked a bit faster, though trying to outrun the long legs visible in his peripheral vision was an unlikely event. They filed into an empty turbolift and turned as the door shut and they gently lurched into the air.

He couldn't help but let his attention be attracted by the purely infuriating presence beside him. He stood tall and regal with his hands clasped behind his back and attention focused on the small strip of visible decks whizzing by. For some reason, it was his hair today that enraged him the most, its perfectly aligned onyx strands a perfect representation of his attitude. Black as space and without a hope of coloring.

Kirk marched out of the turbolift and onto the officers deck. Reaching his room, Kirk keyed in the code for his room and looked at Spock. With a sharp incline of his head, he slid into his quarters as soon as the door opened. He heard the second hiss just a few seconds after his own and only then called for the lights.

Making his way over the desk across the room, he removed his tricoder and belt and began to pick up the nightclothes that he had thrown off that morning. He had refused to sleep in that damn hotel bed one more night with the thought of this perfectly good one waiting with his sheets and pillows on it. Ditching the clothes in the chute, he removed his uniform top and tank. The heat of the room he had programed high last night to chase off the cool air of the fall earth season felt good along his sore back as it soaked into his stiff muscles.

He stretched again sky high and sighed when the reliving crack of his back eased some of the tension. Falling back on his bed, he got a waft of the smell coming from his skin and promptly decided that he needed a shower. Stripping off the rest of his clothes, he checked the bathroom for occupancy and upon finding it bare, lazily meandered inside of it.

As usual, Spock's side of the sink was pristine in a way that his couldn't be if he tried. Even in the other bathroom they have shared, it was the same. Toothbrush and mouthwash set perfectly up next to each other with all of his other supplies tucked into the metal cabinets below the metallically gleaming countertop. His on the other hand, was messily arranged on the other side with the haste of someone who was clearly not a morning person. At any rate, his XO hadn't complained about this human behavior yet, so he couldn't bring himself to care.

Turing on the steaming hot water, he climbed into the shower and let the jet streams of water cleans his body. Grabbing his bar of soap he had left on the three four-inch ledge around the entire stall, he noticed that another bar had joined it. Good. At least Spock trusted his soap next to his after the incident this morning that had started this whole mess. How was he to have known that the Vulcan bar would give him a reaction? It was soap! Rubbing the now unpacked and familiar bar along his front, there was barely enough time for bubbles to form before the high pulses of water swished them down the drain.

The smell that he had grown addicted to his junior year of high school assaulted his nose Fresh, male and Irish spring tang seeped into his skin and washed out the days sweat and stress. Feeling clean, relaxed, and completely ready for sleep, he stepped out and felt a towel below his feet that had not been there this morning. Probably some crap about how it would be illogical to let water drip onto the tile floor and then have someone slip on it.

Fighting the urge to whip the damn thing in some far away corner and drip dry, an action he would have done a month ago without even thinking, especially with his current thoughts about Spock, he took a white towel off the hook and patted himself dry.

Walking across the room to the mirror, he shifted his thoughts from the images of swelling, painful allergenic hypos to ones that were still in his control. Eying up the good sized bruise that purpled along his thigh, the dark side of his humor noted that it matched the one around his neck. With a disturbing realization, he felt a pang of sympathy go out to Uhura. No doubt if the Vulcan was this aggressive at work, he had to be a sheer terror in the sack.

Blocking out mental images of Spock and his communications officer doing the deed, he hastily shoved his toothbrush into his mouth and began to scrub his teeth. As he looked at his face in the mirror, he tried to discern what had changed about his appearance. He saw the hard lines of stress set in his forehead and a sharp light in his eyes. There was a faint shadow due to lack of sleep set under his cold blue irises. Though they hadn't been caused by ship duty, the Vulcan next door was sure to keep them plastered on his face for the rest of the mission.

Taking a gulp of water and clearing rest of the toothpaste out of his mouth, he followed his feet to the sliding door of his room and slipped star clad into his sheets. Sleep welcomed his tired body with open arms.

The next day began with a good night's rest and the best cup of coffee a generator could muster swimming contently in his stomach. Walking out of his room with no thoughts of landing on the floor and hypo sprays from hell, warm mug in hand, the door slid shut behind him, sectioning him off from his comfortable room and plunging him into the cool hall.

Feeling branded with responsibility, the command gold shirt wrapped snugly around his torso, he thanked the gods for the incredible power behind liquefied bean and sugar.

Standing aloof in the hallway and looking down at his data padd, Spock had placed himself in the four-foot gap between their doors. Looking up from his reading, he promptly fell in step as he began to walk to the bridge. Had he not been so accustomed to the strange action, he would have bothered to show his distaste.

"In the mission briefing for today, we are scheduled to scan the surface of the class M planet Athedeis and try to detect any more intelligent signs of life as we head to..." he scanned the file for the name of the planet we were collecting supplies from. "Maldrike."

Stopping outside of the lift, they both sidestepped a flustered looking Uhura who all but ran back to her room at the end of the hall, muttering something about a shorted out headset.

Spock's gaze followed her form for a few seconds, his left eyebrow raised in a doubtfully questioning gesture. With a hard pivot of his head, he moved back into the open space and proceeded into the lift.

"Don't mention that later. She'll not appreciate it."

Spock's raised eyebrow moved marginally higher. "Whatever made you think that I was going to inquire about her actions later, captain?"

Kirk looked over at the serious expression on his XO's face and tried to smother the look of disbelief he desperately wanted to be sporting. From the slight way the brown eyes staring at him narrowed, he had failed. "Well, you are a naturally…" he paused; searching for a word similar to nosy and less offensive then control freak. He had no desire to upset the Vulcan, be strangled into a station, and almost die again. "...Inquisitive person, who would want to know why she was going to be late for her next shift so that you might be able to prevent it from happening later. As a good officer, it would be your duty to make sure this kind of mishap doesn't happen again. As a male trying not to piss off his girlfriend, I wouldn't mention it."

"I do not see the logic behind your statement and I also fail to see what it has to do with the matter at hand."

Doing nothing to hide the humorous look of disbelief from crossing his face, Kirk concentrated on not pointing out how he was much more logically qualified to deal with women than_ his_ emotionally stunted mind and was merely trying to save him from getting in a bit of hot water.

He walked out of the lift shaking his head, a slightly confused looking officer behind him acting as though if his culture had permitted it, he would have been doing the same.

"So what was the rest of the morning briefing?" Kirk said, trying to keep the bridge peaceful today and genuinely curious as to what the fleet had in store for them.

Spock looked at him with the words 'humans are so illogical' flashing so clearly through his eyes, kirk almost had the time to felt insulted before Spock's earlier train of thought persevered. "So far, there have been three logs noted in Star Fleet's history banks that support the theory of there being an interesting variety of wildlife specimens, both plant, aquatic and animal life on the planet. Nothing so far meets regulations for negotiations. We have been ordered to make certain that status has not changed for this and the other planets on our rout. "

Taking a sip from his cooling coffee, Kirk slid into the chair that he was beginning to think was soon going to become as much a part of him as his own back. Early as always, he looked about the ship and tried to come up with a mental picture of how he wanted the day to go.

He turned to his right again. "Is there anything that the science department would like to investigate while we're over these planets? We have the time to spend a few hours shore side if you feel the reports would be more thorough."

Spock contemplated the offer. From the way his brown eyes looked up and met his a few seconds later, the knowledge that he was giving out a peace offering was not lost upon him. The reports would be sufficient with just the readings the Enterprise could offer, but the chance to study on real material and not just read numbers was one that few scientists could pass up and one that Starfleet had been encouraging as of late. Besides, it would be good for the crew to see that they were getting along with each other after yesterday's incident.

"That would be most logical, captain. As the ship will dock in less than two hours, it would be advisable for Sulu and Chekov to establish a proper place to orbit where a team of fellow science officers and myself would be able to be beamed back aboard if observations were to go astray."

"If it's not too much of a problem, take Sulu with you; he has a thing for plants."

Nodding in understanding, Spock moved from his station. "His knowledge in plant life is rather extensive and his combat skills will be invaluable if there were something to happen."

Kirk looked at the door as the rest of his crew filled in. "You have two and a half hours, Mr. Spock. Don't be late, or I'll send people in after you."

"Yes, sir."

Though the idea of joining the crew and exploring the new planet was one that warranted his curiosity, a few hours of a Spockless bridge was too much to pass up.

Sliding back down, he talked to Sulu about the assignment and he was as eager as Spock had been to go shore side for real scientific work. After finding a suitable orbiting radius, Kirk greeted a late and frazzled Uhura with a large smile and the glint of revenge in his eyes. She studiously ignored him.

Once the ship was safely in orbit and the replacement pilot in position, Sulu headed out for the transporter pad, Kirk at his side. He had been reading all of the documentation about the wild animals that he could and was concluding that the planet they were beaming aboard to was all but harmless.

Though the scientists looking at the animals of the planet did not do the reports, he found it hard to believe that a world with so little known about it could be so harmless.

The climate was extremely hot and dry for half of the year, but the other half was wet and mild, causing extremes of animals and plant life. It seemed that the planet was on a constant four-month cycle and few organisms lived through the entire year. The only animals that had been noted to survive were hard to find and they had little information.

Looking through the small pictures that seemed to fill the limited bank of knowledge, he was disappointed to see there was no indication of size, stature or even the basics of what the animals ate. As he informed Sulu to be vigilant about the situation, he hoped that Spock had chosen a few of the sturdier officers to accompany him.

Coming up to the transporter pad, the door hissed open and an angry looking Uhura stormed out and made a hole between him and Sulu. Exchanging a knowing look, they both peered into the room to see a slightly confused Spock looking at the spot where she had just disappeared.

Kirk leaned up against the side of the transporter dock and gave a bemused look to Scotty and McCoy who were trying to mask their own laughter. Bones exchanged a few words with Spock about obtaining a few plants for the medical floor and then excused himself, looking bemused at the situation.

"Tried talking to her about it I see," He said, gesturing to the door. He knew he was playing with fire again, but he couldn't help but tease him just a little about his hellcat of a girlfriend.

He was not dignified with a response beyond a chilly empty stare. Feeling the hair on the back of his neck stand up and a phantom bruise that was not yet so phantom start to ache along his neck, he faced the crew of five. "No messing around. Get your data and head back. Anything weird happens, beam up. Mr. Spock is in charge, no exceptions. Anyone breaks orders and all be taking your place on the next planet. Scotty's going to be operating the pad till you get back, understood?

"A chorus of yes sirs echoed around him. "Good. Take them away Spock."

"Energize." And with a swirl of white light and the whine of machinery, five crewmen left the ship.

Disclaimer: Alas, I do not own star trek. I don't think I'd want to own it… to many fans that will never be happy because the new movies aren't as…. 60's ish as the old show. Plus, id never get any work done, first time Chris Pine walked into my office…. Well… so much for paperwork. lol

A.N. woot! first chapter! And so begins the angsty new adventures of the random little scenes that I've had swimming around in my head put onto a real plot line. Sit back and pop a squat, this is just the beginning of a long, long slashy, trekkie adventure. And thank you soX10^42 much Jack Hawksmoor, my epic beta of epicness who whipped my lazy out of shape story into all that it is now. ^_^


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

As Kirk looked out at the empty transporter pad in front of him, he felt a small pang of jealousy. His inner curiosity burned to stomp his boots on the unknown surface of a new planet. Shifting back, Kirk looked to Scotty and ran a few questions by him on the ship's progress. Satisfied with the answers and accepting that it was his job to stay on board when he had no one else to replace him should things go astray, he settled on watching from the bridge. His thoughts were interrupted by the growl of his hungry stomach. Bidding goodbye to Scotty, he walked towered the mess hall.

The room was all but empty as he pulled up a chair with a steaming plate of food at his regular table. Just as he began to eat the questionable looking substance, another tray slid next to his.

"I swear Jim; you would think people would know better than to run head first into low slung ceilings. I've had to do three sets of regenerative stitches in the last week and I can guarantee there will be more before Monday." The doctor opened his own dish and started to pile the food into his mouth with the fever of a starved man.

"Glad to see you're entertained. What deck is it that everyone is getting hurt on?" Jim said between two considerably slower bites.

"The one on D in front of the replicator. I think someone rigged it to make good chocolate because they all seem to go for it." Bones took a long swig of this and looked about to continue his rant, but halted at the look that crossed Jim's eyes.

"What are you looking at?" the doctor said with his normal early morning grumpiness that never seemed to go away as the day progressed.

"Just wondering how you can inhale your food so damn fast. Isn't that against some medical recommendations or something?" Kirk said to his less than amused looking friend.

"After a few years of this crap, you don't taste it, just shovel and hope it doesn't come back up later. Unlike you, I ate all of my food in the cafeteria, not in some girl's dorm after you coned her into to cooking, so I'm used to it already."

Kirk flashed a cocky grin. "It's not my fault they all believed the way to my heart was though my stomach. "

"I still feel bad for that one girl who gave you beets. Her face when she all but crashed down my door begging me to save your life. Priceless."

"You would find my near death to that horrid cooking funny," said Kirk.

"So how goes the away crew? Spock seemed almost happy to be able to find data on the planet first hand. You must really have gotten to him yesterday with that soap incident. Why did you use his bar anyway? You have such a fetish about your own."

"Look, I told you yesterday, mine was still packed! How the hell was I supposed to know that his would give me some freakish rash?" Kirk said defensively as he scratched the physiological itch on his arm.

Bones whipped out his tricorder and ran a scan down along the place that Kirk was rubbing. "Bones," Kirk said with the most annoyed captain's voice he could muster, "what the hell are you doing? I'm trying to eat."

"Don't even kid, I'm not taking chances with your allergies." Looking down at the scanner, the gruff doctor looked almost amused. "All right, you're clear."

"So glad," Kirk said sardonically as he glared holes in to the oblivious doctor's scull. Picking up his fork, he began eating again.

Placing his tricorder back on his belt and shifting the conversation back to its earlier topic, he began another one of his speeches. "You may not like the alien, and I'm not saying that I particularly enjoy his company either, but he is a damn fine officer and has more training on ship procedures then all of us. He's nothing but an asset."

"I don't doubt that," Kirk said almost exasperatedly. "He has a lot of good information to give and his opinion on anything is great to have. I just hate that I don't _get_ him. I want to make this mission as bearable as possible for everyone on board, but there's just this wall around him that makes me want to take the blunt end of a phaser to his head."

"You'll get used to it fast enough. You have a way with people that he doesn't. You two complement each other. If he can mellow you out and you can get the stick up his ass out, then I think you two will have a great career together."

Kirk let out his trademark smirk and chuckle. Looking to the tiled ceiling, Kirk tried to ignore the niggling feeling that Bones might have a point, if that weird conversation with the other dimension Spock was anything to go off of.

"Just keep him out of medical. He's a prick when trying to give him a physical; I'd hate to see what he would do if there was ever anything seriously wrong."

"What do you mean?"

"I thought you were a child when it came to inspection time. The way he just looks at me while I try and work makes me feel like I'm some evil Klingon trying to skin his cat."

"Thanks Bones. I'm beginning to think that it's you who has the stick up his ass. Whatever happened to good bed-side manner?"

"I have a great temperament with my patients. I haven't missed with a hypo in years," said Bones in a matter-of-fact way.

Rolling his eyes, Kirk looked up to see Bones getting ready to leave. Looking at the table's gleaming surface, he tried to immerse his thoughts into something more productive then the off feeling in his gut. Maybe he had forgotten something on the bridge, or maybe he just needed a bit more time to adjust to space life.

"You've got that look that tells me something isn't right," said McCoy, his voice laced with concern. "What's bothering you?"

Kirk just shook his head and crammed the last bit of food into his mouth, getting ready to leave.

Sensing the source of his anxiety, Bones clapped him on the shoulder. "They'll be fine Jim, you of all people should be aware of how strong Spock is when provoked." Ignoring Kirks sharp look, the doctor pushed him toward the door. "Go back to the bridge and monitor their frequencies. Make sure the subs are doing their job and try to get Uhura in a better mood for the goblin when he comes back."

Nodding, he followed his friend out of the mess and parted with him on the turbo lift. Moving onto the bridge, he walked over to Uhura's station to check her monitors. "How is everyone down there?"

Turning, all traces of her bad mood gone and the face of an officer in place, she addressed him with a fickle calm. "They seem to have stopped moving in this area." She pointed to the red heat grams of his personnel, Spock's signature showing considerably higher body heat than the other four. "I can't tell why though, maybe something about what they're researching. The area is hard to get weak signals like communications into orbit, so I haven't been able to keep communications up. The transporter will be fine due to the higher frequency, but as of now, all we have are the scanners." By the look in her eyes, he was not alone in his off feeling.

"Ok, can you make sure that Scotty is on high alert? I want everyone in position now that communication is out."

"Of course captain."

Walking across the bridge, he sat down and addressed Spock's fill-in. "What are the readings showing so far ensign?"

Turning to attention, the browned haired crewman skimmed over a few more screens, drawing the rest of his conclusion, "It seems like the gravitational levels are all normal compared to the last reported time, but the climate and temperatures seem to be going a bit astray."

"What do you mean by astray?" said Kirk, not liking his vague terminology.

"Well captain, from the logs we have, it's clear there are two seasons on the planet, but it's unclear as to how long it takes to transition in between them. Normally it is an extended period, shifting of planets and what not, but this one seems to be progressing rapidly from one extreme to the next. There has been a great drop in temperature compared to the normal recorded temps for this time of year."

"Uhura, I want communications up now. I don't care what it takes. I want a visual on what's going on down there."

"On it Captain."

"Sir, I looked up the planetary movements for the area and it looks like the shift in temperature is indeed the start of a new season. From the position of the suns orbiting the planet and shadow of the moons, every four months the sun is all but blocked out from the planet." He moved the screen to shift with the incoming information.

"Due to the high levels of gravity emitted by the moons, whenever the sun is out of sight, the large bodies of water form into clouds and make up the rain season, but as the moons move out of the suns path, the heat evaporates the water faster than it can form into clouds. That's what is causing the extreme opposite seasons of rain for half the year and then desert oasis the other."

"So what does that mean for my men on the planet?"

Uhura stood and walked to the station. "I have a slight signal, but it's hard to distinguish what they are saying," she said as she pressed her headset deeper into her ear. "The readings show that the others are moving, but Spock seems to be stationary again. I think he knows that we are trying to get in touch with him."

"Keep up on it, lieutenant. Try and get them to move to a more accessible spot."

"Of course sir."

Turing his attention back to the monitor, Kirk addressed the science officer. "By the looks of how fast this moon is orbiting, the shift between seasons is faster than expected," Kirk said. He trailed a finger across the screen, looking for more data.

"Incredibly sir. The area they are in will fully shift into the rainy season in approximately fifteen minutes.

Kirk looked down at the officer. "How long do they have before the actual rain starts to form?"

"Well, looking at the strength, an hour, maybe two?" Nodding, Kirk moved to pace along the deck, trying to come up with the best plan of action. Though the weather was an unforeseen complication, rain was hardly deadly. By the time it started to turn to precipitate, they would be long gone.

Grabbing a data pad, he pulled up the information on the dropping temperatures. It had only plunged two point three degrees Celsius in the hour they had been on planet. The cooling was still well in comfort ranges and allowed for at least another three hours before they would be harmful to Spock and at least four for the others.

"How long do the scans have before they're complete?"

"Just over an hour, sir. The data requested by Starfleet is rather extensive for an uninhabited planet. I'm sure that's why Spock agreed to go shore side. There has to be something that we are looking for out here," the science crewman said as he looked at kirk.

"Don't make assumptions. Good information makes future missions easier, and this planet is severely lacking in that department."

"Captain! I've hailed the men! Putting them over the con."

A scratchy but understandable voice filled the room. "Captain? This is Sulu, what seems to be the problem?"

"An unforeseen complication seems to have arisen that is making the climate shift at an alarmingly fast rate. You should have enough time to complete your observations, but I want it done quickly. Get back on ship as soon as possible. Clear?"

"As crystal captain. The sky seems to be darkening a bit and it's not so overwhelmingly hot anymore, but aside from that, all is normal."

"Make sure it stays that way. Kirk out."

He looked over the briefing data again, scanning to see if he missed something. The authorization to go on land if the opportunity presented itself, the little info on an animal that may or may not be more than a resilient rat, even the nature of the greenery all seemed to check out as being fine. By the time the rain started to pour, no one would be on planet side, so it should be pointless to worry.

Trying into get his gut to go with his logic, he started to pace again. "What power level are we at Chekov?" He felt as though he needed to do something to keep his mind occupied.

"We are in full power, Captain." The navigator said quickly.

"Shift to idle, give the engines a break."

Moving over the controls of Sulu's replacement and hitting a few commands, Chekov eased the ship out of the gentle growl and slid her into a content purr. "All main engines on idle, Scotty will be pleased. "

"Thank you Chekov." Again, he began pacing. They had just under an hour before they were expected, but if Spock knew that a possible storm was on the horizon, then he would undoubtedly take the safe track and expedite the research.

"I'm going to take a walk to blow off some steam. I don't know why, but I'm restless. Uhura, you have the con, hail me if anything changes."

"Yes sir."

Walking out of the bridge, he tried to look normal as he walked down to D deck to investing the popular replicator and possibly treat himself to a chocolate bar. There was no need to startle the crew and make something out of what could easily be nothing. He nodded to a few passing crew as they stopped at attention and slipped onto the thankfully empty turbolift.

Planting an arm above the controls, he eased his weight to the cool frame and pressed his head to the metal, trying to sort his thoughts. Something was not right. He could feel it moving in his stomach and planting a seed of doubt in his mind. Taking a deep breath as the turbolift came to a halt; he schooled his features and walked out into the hall.

Hearing the loud beats of running footsteps, he turned around just in time to see McCoy charging full speed toward lift, emergency medical bag in hand with two trauma nurses following closely on his heels.

"Bones! What the hell's going on?" Kirk said, instantly on high alert. Bones continued to the lift doors, ignoring him. Kirk sprinted across the hall and slipped into lift just as the doors began to close.

"Jim, what the hell are you doing all the way down here? We've got an emergency on our hands!"

Kirk looked at the thee medical officers all crammed into the small space and couldn't help his frustration. "What do you mean, emergency, I just got off of the bridge and everything was fine! What happened?"

McCoy gave him a hard look. "We just got hailed and informed that one of the science officers on the landing crew was severely injured. We have to beam down planet side and stabilize him before he can be transported. Something about the wild animals going into shock with the weather."

Nodding a quick good luck, the door opened to his floor and he ran at a full sprint until he reached the bridge and burst inside. The noise of hurried people, computers and the rush of an emergency assaulted his senses as he barked an order. "I want to know why the hell my CMO was the first one to tell me about an accident and why he is currently beaming planet side without my authority. Now!"

Kirk moved to the front of his post as Uhura slipped out of her chair and made her way to the large data screen behind him. "Sorry sir, Spock had to relocate and just found a place where he could get a signal; I was just about to hail you. Following her to the screen, he let her hastily pull up an image of the planet. "Here's where they are sir, they contacted us just moments after you left asking for emergency medical help. Some of the native animals hurt one of the scientists. He took a hit to the spine and can't be moved."

"Is everyone else ok? What about the other four officers? How are they fending the animals off?" Kirk studied the map and the small dots with names attached representing his crew. They looked to be in a narrow ravine of sorts, a good tactical spot for fighting off an unknown number of attackers.

"The others all report ok. Spock said that between him and Sulu, they were managing the animals. Bones should be leaving soon, he just had to grab the animal poisoning kit and he will beam down. He said he would send the other men back as soon as they landed. That way Scotty will have a solid lock on their position. The rest will follow the second the injured are though."

Nodding, he turned his attention to the science fill in. "How long before the scans finish?"

"Um… forty three minutes sir."

Moving his attention back to Uhura, he switched the screen settings to show the weather and climate changes. "It looks like the clouds are starting to form but there is still too little in the atmosphere for rain to fall. The temperatures are still dropping, how low can they get before Spock has to worry?"

Uhura looked back at him, her focus moving from Chekov to Kirk. "Another ten degrees sir. He'll be uncomfortable, but nothing he can't handle till then. "

"How is communications looking on the planet? Are they in range?" Kirk said, voice tense.

"No sir, Spock had to move out of the ravine just to tell me that. He would have stayed in range, but he had to help fight off the animals. The other officers don't have the combat experience."

"All right, I want another medical crew at the ready for when Bones gets back. We've been in space for less than two days, I will have no fatalities. Understood?"

"Yes captain," Uhura said as she tried to configure the screen into a more detailed layout of the planet.

"Captain…" Chekov stammered as he tried to make sense of what his scanners were telling him.

"Yes Chekov? What is it?" he moved to face the navigator.

"It seems like there is another ship in orbit around the planet sir."

"What?" Kirk said, trying to process his words. "How did this go unnoticed? With the gravitational scans we have going on this planet I should know the exact locations of space dust in a fifty mile vicinity!" Kirk turned to the fill-in science officer who was never going to step foot on his bridge again.

"Sorry sir, the commander has his station set up differently, I'm not sure how to work all of it." Sighing, Kirk looked away from the officer before he ended up yelling again.

"Who are they and are they friendly?" he barked out a second later, the sinking feeling in his gut tightening to a dull throb.

"I'm scanning now sir, but no Federation ships should be anywhere near us."

He looked at Uhura who had the same look of dread across her face that he was feeling.

"Can they see us?" Kirk turned in his chair automatically to look toward Spock's station, accustomed to having his lighting quick if somewhat over-rational analysis in just these kind of situations. Instead of Spock's impassive, slightly irritating face Kirk found himself gazing at the idiot replacement that could do little more than read data from his screen. Momentarily derailed by the lack of Spock's steady presence, Kirk turned to look at the blurry image.

"We have a visual on the ship captain," said Chekov.

"And? Who are they?"

The navigator quickly brought the image into focus. Kirk stared at the ship in dread as the situation quickly went from in his control to farthest from it.

"It's Klingon sir…" Chekov said in small voice as the noisy bridge came to a silence as all eyes were riveted to the image of the ship orbiting on the other side of the small planet.

Kirk let out a low curse. Looking at the image again, he tried to find the solution the rest of the bridge was eagerly waiting for. "Zoom onto the hull, Chekov."

The screen narrowed and focused on the writing that spanned the older ship. The name of the bird was long gone, as well as the markings of its imperial ranking, but the purpose of its creation was still clear. It was a war bird, too old to be in active service to the Klingon Empire, but any Klingon in space was dangerous enough to be a threat, especially to a Federation ship. Going off the engines it sported and the shape, he could tell it had been made about thirty years ago, long before the technology necessary for detecting a ship like the _Enterprise_ had been invented.

Thanking his ship history class he had taken last semester, he addressed his silent bridge. "The reason they haven't hailed or tried to attack us yet is because they don't know we're here. The ship is too old to be able to detect our outgoing transmissions. Because we're in idle and so close to the shifting moons, our signal could easily be overlooked in a system not programed to detect it."

"Captain," Uhura's voice beckoned. "That ship is long out of commission. The only reason it would be out this far away from their empire would be because they are no longer welcome or refused to be retired. They must be rouges."

Letting his silence confirm the idea, he grasped the railing in front of him and looked down at his hands, trying to think.

"I want to know how close they have to be to detect us as well what kind of electronics they have aboard. Get Scotty up here and tell him to find a replacement for the transporter pad, well need all the additional information we can get on that ship."

"Captain!" Chekov said as he raced his fingers across his key board. "Though the ship can't detect anything going out because of the gravitational flux from the moons, even old equipment like that will be able to read any incoming signals to the Enterprise. If we take any more transmissions in, both from transportation and communication, they might detect our position."

"I want a red alert. All stations battle ready. If that ship so much as looks in our direction, I want phasers locked and ready. I will not take chances with rogue Klingons. "

"Sir," Chekov said as Kirks mind began to race. "They have beamed five to the surface of the planet, about a mile away from where Spock and the others are."

Putting together the new information with the knowledge that his best friend had beamed aboard a planet that he would not be able to get back from and that he might already be sending back officers, his thoughts went into overdrive. "Hail the transporter room lieutenant and make sure McCoy is aware of the Klingons."

"I've already tried Captain. I can't get through, Scotty is on his way here and whoever is at the station isn't picking up."

"Damn it," Kirk spat as he turned on his heel to the door. "Alright, keep trying, if anything happens, I had better be the first to know this time."

Ignoring Uhura as she stared after him in question, he gave her the con in a rushed order. Making a mad dash out of the bridge, Kirk ran as fast as his legs would carry him to the transport pad, hoping like hell that by some stroke of luck, Bones hadn't beamed back yet.

He urged the lift to move faster as his breath came in long pulls and adrenalin coursed through his system, causing his body to move as fast as his mind. He heard the red alert and Uhura's voice as she ordered battle stations. As soon as the doors started to open, Kirk was running through them full speed to the transporter room.

As he ran through the halls, the crew looked as hurried as he did. Few even realized who he was. The ones that did quickly acknowledged him with a sharp salute and moved back to their stations.

As he drew nearer to the transporter room, Kirk didn't hear the sound of a medical emergency and thanked the gods. He might still have a chance. If he could just get down to the planet before they beamed anyone else up, he might be able to keep them undetected and avoid a confrontation.

Bursting into the room, barely avoiding the sliding doors, he ran for the transporter station and stopped Scotty's replacement just as he was sliding the last dial up to receive the crew. "Sir?" said the man, not bothering to hide his questioning gaze. "We have to get the doctor back on board…"

"No one is to come aboard this vessel until I give permission." Kirk said as he strapped on his belt and phaser and moved to the front transport circle.

"But-"he stopped as Kirk's glare silenced him.

"Energize," said Kirk, a hard look still in his eyes, daring the engineer to disobey him. A few seconds later, the familiar hum of electricity slid though his body and sent him into the unknown of the planet below.

Disclaimer: I do not own star trek, blah blah blah.

A.N. Cliffhanger! Come on, it was obvious that something was going to happen. Bet you didn't suspect Klingons though.

Thank you those who reviewed and the others who read! Sixteen alerts already! Hope I can live up!

Again to my epic beta, much love!

Is it just me, or does this chapter seem more adventurous when read to the Pirates of the Caribbean theme… lol


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